Untitled Watercolor Landscape by Minnesota Mixed Media artist Terry Honstead

Why is it that when you try to photograph a light picture, especially with light blues and grays, it always comes out dull and dingy looking?  I like this painting so far, and I have a long way to go, but I am liking the way the sunrise just glows and the trees look like they were hit by the rising sun.  It is another tribute to my life and family, and is a common sight at my house!  Especially this winter.  Snow is deep here and everyone is getting tired of the cold weather.  Spring cannot come soon enough!  One more thing I should probably say about this painting is that the beige color on the snowshoes is not from painting, but is from a resist that I used to keep those areas from being painted as I did the background.  Instead of a masking fluid from and art store, I used "Tear Mender" which is a lot cheaper and actually lasts longer than the traditional ones.

Finally able to Breathe again!

October has been such a busy month.  I  am so glad that I am almost done with it!  Only one more scheduled activity!  Or two!  Next weekend will be another busy one!  But the big two are over and now I can breathe!  Last week I was in Wisconsin for a weeklong class with Karlyn Holman!  I had a wonderful time!  I went with 6 others from the Bemidji area!  We all painted at least 12 hours a day and ate and slept the other 12!  I ended up getting a cold, which made it a little harder, but I still had the best time ever!  And we are all signed up for her class for the same week next year!  I can hardly wait!  Then I had to get ready for Bemidji's 4th annual (I think) Studio Cruise which was this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!  I had a blast although I am now extremely tired and am going to bed as soon as I finish writing this!  I had about 200 people come through my studio and got to visit with most of them!  I did a demo on monoprints and told many about floor clothes which is something that I have been working on.  I believe everyone enjoyed both!  I also made a few new contacts and had some sales and had a great time in every way possible!  I sold one of my paintings that was so newly finished that I didn't have a digital copy yet, but the lady that I sold it to said that I could keep it until next week so I could do that.  Good thing too, because I sold three prints of the same picture.  I also sold one that was not yet finished!  I was so surprised!  The lady that bought that one let me keep it until I finish it, although she said she liked it just as it was!  It still has the masking on the birds and the ones that are flying have not even been painted yet!  I thought I would post of picture of both of those two paintings!